Air translating apparatus



Dec. 2, 1952 R. s. RADCLIFFE AIR TRANSLATING APPARATUS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1Filed Feb. 28, 1.950

INVENTOR REMINGTON S. RADCLIF'FE ATTORNEY Dec. 2, 1952 R. s. RADCLIFFE2,620,127

AIR TRANSLATING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 28, 1950 2 SHEETS- 2 28 as so FIG.3. T

WITNESSES: INVENTOR 9. 1. flmQJ? REMINGTON S.RADCL1FFE ATTORNEY PatentedDec. 2, 1952 AIR TRANSLATING AEPARATUS Remington S. Radcliffe,Springfield, Mass, as-

signor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application February 28, 1950, Serial No.146,649

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to ventilating and air circulating fans ingeneral, and more particularly to an electrically driven fan which maybe used either as a window mounted exhaust fan or as a portable aircirculating fan for a room.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a window mountingstructure having a fan unit detachably mounted on a panel for operationas an exhaust fan, which fan may be easily and quickly detached foroperation as a portable desk fan.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved means fordetachably mounting the fan unit to the panel.

A further object is to provide the fan unit with a wire structurecomprising the impeller guard, motor mount, supporting foot structureand panel mounting means.

The invention is illustrated in the following drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a rear perspective view of the fan unit and. the panel;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the fan unit removed from thepanel;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front perspective view showing the lower lockingarrangement; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary rear perspective view of the impeller guardshowing the mounting hooks and supporting feet.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, there isshown a fan structure generally designated l0, having a window mountingpanel l2 and a detachable fan unit l4. As shown in Fig. 1, the fanstructure serves as a window mounted fan of the type usually employed toexhaust air from a dwelling room. The panel l2 may be made of sheetmetal and is provided with a centrally located circular exhaust opening15 defined by an outwardly extending collar 16. The opposite endportions of the panel are bent back to form a pair of vertical flanges[8, whereby the panel may be mounted in a window frame (not shown) in awell-known manner.

The fan unit 14 comprises an electric fan motor 20 having an outputshaft, a directly driven impeller 22 carried by the shaft and animpeller guard 24. The impeller guard 24 is preferably fabricated ofwire and includes a plurality of guard rings 26, 26, 36, 32 and a motormounting ring 34 of varying diameters arranged in concentric relationwith the motor shaft. The rings are united at a plurality of points by 2cross-members 36, which are welded to the rings to form a unitarystructure. The ring 34 (as best shown in Fig. 3) encircles the fan motor26 and is clamped between the halves of the motor casing 38 and 40 by aplurality of bolts 42 to support the motor in the guard structure 24.

A pair of formed wire members 44 provided with downwardly bent hookportions 46 are fastened to the lower portion of the impeller guard 24by welding. Although the members 44 may be fastened to any portion ofthe guard as desired, I have shown them fastened to the rings 36 and 28.The portion of member 44 adjacent the hook 46 is spaced from the ring 26for a purpose which will be described later.

The exhaust collar 16 is provided with a pair of openings or slots 46disposed in its lower portion and spaced to receive the hooks 46. Theupper portion of the collar is provided with a pair of latches or springclips 56 having bent portions 52 adapted to engage the guard ring 23.The end portions of the clips may be bent outwardly to provide camsurfaces 54 which permit the ring 23 to be snapped into engagement withthe bent portions 52.

The impeller guard 24 is provided with a supporting foot structurehaving a pair of lat erally disposed feet 56 and a rear foot 58. Thefoot structure may also be formed of wire and includes a rear member 66having its upper end fastened to guard ring 32 and its lower end bentinto an open loop to form the rear foot 58. A V-shaped wire member 62having its central portion fastened to the rear member 66, has its endportions bent into similar open loops to provide the lateral feet 56 andis fastened to the guard ring 28 adjacent the lateral feet. To preventthe scratching of polished table or desk tops and also to preventslippage of the unit l4 when in operation as a desk fan, the feet may becovered with short pieces of rubber tubing 64 or the like.

When it is desired to mount the fan unit on the panel, the hooks 46 arefirst engaged with the slots 48 while the unit is held in a rearwardlytilted position. The unit is then rotated forwardly about the hooks 46and urged against the clips 56, whereby the cam surfaces 64 deflect andpermit the ring 28 to be snapped into engagement with the bent portions52.

The fan unit is now mounted with the impeller 22 in registry with theopening l5. Upon energization of the motor 26, which may be effected inany suitable manner already well known, the

impeller is effective to effect flow of air through the opening 15.Referring to Fig. 3, the flow of air is from the right to the left. Thisassembled fan structure is ideally suited, for example, to serve as awindow mounted kitchen exhaust fan.

The fan unit 14 may easily and quickly be removed from the panel I2, aswhen it is desired to operate the fan as a desk type fan. This isaccomplished by flexing the spring clips 50 out of engagement with theguard ring 28, tilting the fan unit rearwardly about the hooks 46 as anaxis to clear the clips, and then lifting the unit to disengage thehooks 46 from their mating slots 48. The fan is now adapted to serve asa table-top or desk fan, in which case the fan is supported by the feet56 and 58.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a fan structure which is fullyadapted to serve as either a window mounted or panel fan, or as a deskor table-top fan. A simple and quickly operated means is provided forattaching the fan unit to the panel or removing it therefrom.

The structure above described provides a sturdy mounting arrangement foran exhaust fan which is rattle-proof. Motor noises which would otherwisebe transmitted to the panel l2 are substantially reduced, since the fanunit is, in effect, spring mounted on the panel. The hook members 44 arefree to absorb the motor noises and the space between the members 44 andthe guard ring 26 permits any vibration to occur quietly.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious tothose skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptibleof various changes and modifications without departing from the spiritthereof.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, a substantially vertical panel having a ventilatingopening therein and a fan unit detachably mounted on said panel inregistry with said opening; said fan unit comprising a wire frame, amotor mounted on said frame and an impeller attached to the shaft of themotor, said wire frame including an impeller guard having a front ringand a rear ring arranged concentrically with said shaft, a resilienthook member, said hook member being fastened to the lower portion ofsaid rear ring and extending forwardly beyond said front ring andengaging said panel adjacent the lower portion of said opening, saidpanel having a spring latch member disposed adjacent the upper portionof said opening engaging said frame in the direction to maintain saidhook member in engagement with said panel, said hook member being spacedfrom said front ring and serving to absorb vibrations of the motor andthe impeller, and said fan unit being detachable from said panel bysequentially disengaging said latch from said ring and disengaging saidhook from said panel.

2. A panel having an opening therein and a fan unit adapted to bedetachably mounted on said panel in registry with said opening toprovide room ventilation, said fan unit comprising a wire frame having afront rin and a rear ring arranged concentrically with said shaft, amotor supported by said frame and an impeller attached to the shaft ofsaid motor, and means for detachably interlocking said unit to saidpanel, said means including a resilient hook member attached to thelower portion of said rear ring and extending forwardly beyond saidfront ring and adapted to be received within the lower portion of saidopening, said means further including a spring latch member carried bythe upper portion of said panel and adapted to engage the upper portionof the frame to complete the interlock, said hook member being spacedfrom said front ring and serving to absorb vibrations of the motor andthe impeller, and said unit being adapted to serve as an air circulatingfan when detached from said panel and having a plurality of supportingfeet, said unit being attachable to said panel by sequentially engagingsaid hook in said opening and engaging said frame by said latch.

3. In combination, a panel having a ventilating opening therein and afan unit detachably mounted on said panel in registry with said opening;said fan unit comprising a motor, an impeller attached to the shaft ofthe motor, an impeller guard supporting said motor and having a guardring and a pair of spaced hook members, said panel having a pair ofslots adjacent one side of the opening adapted to receive said hookmembers and a spring clip remotely spaced from said slots but adjacentsaid opening and adapted to receive said guard ring, said spring cliphaving a cam portion arranged to deflect and permit said guard ring toengage said clip when said fan unit is urged against said cam portion tothereby firmly but detachably secure said fan unit on said panel.

4. A panel having an opening therein and a fan unit adapted to bedetachably mounted on said panel in registry with said opening toprovide room ventilation, said fan unit comprising a motor, an impellerdirectly driven by said motor, an impeller guard supporting said motor,and means for detachably interlocking said fan unit to said panel, saidmeans including a pair of spaced hook members attached to the lowerportion of the frame and extending downwardly, and a pair of slots insaid panel for receiving said hooks, said means further including alatch member carried by the upper portion of the panel and having a camportion arranged to deflect and permit the upper portion of the frame tobe gripped by said latch when said unit is urged against said camportion to complete the interlock, said unit being adapted to serve as adesk fan when detached from said panel and having a plurality ofsupporting feet, said feet being provided by a formed Wire memberrigidly attached to the frame.

REMINGTON S. RADCLIFFE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,329,816 Winslow Feb, 3, 19201,738,719 Morse Dec. 10, 1929 1,917,327 Preston July 11, 1933 1,935,179Orear Nov. 14, 1933 2,100,923 Schmidt et al. Nov. 30, 1937 2,215,035Gundelfinger Sept. 17, 1940 2,258,325 Hess et a1. Oct. 7, 1941 2,325,754Ebert Aug. 3, 1943 2,418,760 Cucci Apr. 8, 1947

